March 2015

Palm Sunday – “B” – March 29, 2015

From the Pastor /

As we read the account of the passion of Jesus from St. Mark’s Gospel today, we move with Jesus through the events of that first Holy Week. Against the background of plotting betrayal, Jesus accepts the loving tenderness of one who prophetically anoints Him in preparation for His burial. He shares His last Passover meal with the disciples, again prophetically acting out His approaching death in the sacrament of His body and blood, and, in the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus goes through an agony of anticipation, freely accepting the will of His Father, which lead to His arrest and condemnation.

How can we effectively take part in the commemoration of the passion and death of the Lord this week? If we truly to experience the transforming power of the resurrection when we celebrate Easter next Sunday, we’re called to take part as fully as we can in the liturgical actions of this week, reminding ourselves that we are all called to be disciples, to take up our cross and follow Jesus.

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Passion Sunday – “B” – March 22, 2015

From the Pastor /

Today’s passage from Jeremiah begins, “See, the days are coming…” The second reading, from the letter to the Hebrews, speaks of Christ looking beyond His life on earth. In the Gospel, Jesus says that “the hour has come.” We still live in that “hour;” it is still unfolding in our lives.

Our lives are full of small deaths, and small resurrections. When we confess our sins, when we join with Christ in His Eucharist, when we make sacrifices and take risks for His sake, then something in us dies and something new is born again. We can live many years without allowing this death and resurrection to take place in our lives. We may not choose to change, but sometimes it is outside circumstances that force a change on us. This can be the grace of God for us, but only if we have faith and hope. If we lived our lives in a perpetual winter, and all living memory had forgotten the spring, how shocked we would be when a new spring finally came. We would call it the death of winter, unable to imagine that this was not death but a newness of life. St. Paul tells us that we are to walk in that newness of life. Christ walked into the greatest darkness possible, the rejection of salvation itself, yet He entered into that darkness and faced up to it with His human emotions, showing that fear is to be overcome by hope and love.

The art of travel is knowing what to pack, but the experienced traveler will also know what to pack. We will gain more from Lent if we see it as not just a temporary giving up of things but rather training in letting go of everything that holds us up on the journey to the kingdom. Jesus teaches us to travel lightly. In Lent we can learn something about how demanding the journey to eternal happiness can be. It may not be material things that we’re called to let go of. We may need to let go of attitudes, emotional blinds, compulsions, automatic responses to situations; in short, the false sense of self that hides the true self which is being created in Christ. Now in these last two weeks of Lent, we can consider the magnitude of the journey Christ has asked us to pursue. Yet it is not a journey we make on our own; if we look ahead, He is there, and we follow.

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IV Sunday of Lent – “B” – March 15, 2015

From the Pastor /

Becoming God’s works of art means handing ourselves over to be recreated in Christ, shaped by the Father’s love and given a new life in the Holy Spirit. This happens most profoundly when we give up on our own efforts. When we find ourselves finally exiled, lost, at the dead end of our own plans and weaknesses we then realize that what we have driven out is Christ, then we can look on Him and His love and be healed.

Thinking about this in Lent is especially important. We are encouraged by the Church to observe Lent through deepened prayer, more frequent fasting and a greater sharing of what we have. At this stage in Lent many of us will be feeling pleased at what a “successful” Lent we’re having; we’ve stuck to our disciplines and are beginning to feel pretty pleased with our spiritual progress! So let’s be happy in our Lenten journey, and share that smile of God’s love for us a bit more this week. Next time we know we are getting in a mess, instead of simply making bigger efforts of our own, let’s call on Jesus first, and allow ourselves to know the joy of His help in all attempts to love better.

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Institution of the PNCC – March 8, 2015

From the Pastor, PNCC /

The PNCC in ONE, because like Christ, the head of the Church, is one, thus there is also one body in which Christ is head and the faithful as members are united. Although there are many members in the Church, the body of Christ, yet they all are one body and they are united in an inseparable unity.

The PNCC is HOLY, because Christ, her head, is holy. The fact that PNCC members do sin doesn’t destroy the holiness of the Church.

The PNCC is CATHOLIC, because Christ is the Lord of the universe. The PNCC is Catholic as she remains in the original tradition of the Apostles and continues “That which has been believed everywhere, always, by all”. Our holy orders are recognized by both the RC and Orthodox Churches. We are rooted in Scripture, grounded in Sacred Tradition and accept the Ecumenical Councils of the undivided Church.

The PNCC is APOSTOLIC, because her divine founder was the first “apostle”. The apostolic teaching guarded by the Church constitutes the essence of her apostolicity. The uninterrupted sequence and succession of the shepherds and teachers of the Church which begins by the Apostles, guarantees the truth of the Church.

The PNCC is a CONSTITUTIONAL Church. The source of sovereignty rests in each democratically organized parish, which owns, controls and administers all parish property. Ultimate and virtually complete authority is given to the Church’s legislative body, the General Synod. Between synods, the executive body known as the Supreme Council of the Church is the highest governing body.

The PNCC is a BIBLE-BELIEVING Church. A Catholic Church that believes the Holy Bible to be the divinely inspired Word of God.

The PNCC is a DEMOCRATIC Church. The poorest lay person has a voice in the parish. The laity and clergy work together, with separate spheres of responsibility in parochial affairs, and they work together, often after long heated debate, in the seniorate and in the diocesan and general synods.
Our laity is kept well informed of all that is going on in the Church. We are not perfect. We are human. But we know that our Church will, through the sacraments, make possible our growth in grace and our entrance into heaven!

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